How to Open a TD e-Series (e-Funds) RESP Account

A couple of readers in the RESP Strategy thread requested that I write about my experience opening a TD e-Series/e-Funds RESP account as it seems to be a popular choice for low cost index funds. Canadian Capitalist has already written about this topic, and pretty much sums up what is required. I will include a few more details based on my experience.

The Requirements

To begin, in order open a TD e-Series RESP account, a TD Mutual Funds RESP account is required. This is their “in-house” mutual funds account that most (if not all) of the big banks carry which require no annual fee.

If you don’t already have one, opening a TD Mutual funds RESP account is fairly straight forward. There are two options available which is application either by mail or in branch. We went with the branch option as the mail in form was extremely long.

After the TD Mutual Funds RESP account is setup, the TD e-Series account can be created. This is done by going online and converting the TD Mutual Funds RESP into a TD e-Series RESP by sending in their application form. A few days after they receive the application, the e-Series funds should be accessible online via your account.

My Experience

Lets get into my personal experience of opening the TD e-Series RESP account. As mentioned above, I decided to go in branch to open the required TD Mutual Funds RESP account. As I don’t have any accounts with TD, I didn’t know what to expect.

As I entered the branch, I was greeted by a friendly receptionist who directed me to a personal banker who has experience with RESP‘s. I mentioned that I was looking to open a TD Mutual Funds account to be converted in an e-Series account. There was some resistance when I mentioned the e-Series account. Even though it is a TD product, it is an online product only, and the personal banker wouldn’t even talk about it. I suspect it’s because they receive no commission or recognition for selling the TD e-Series products. I’m not saying that this is how all the personal bankers from TD would act, this is simply based on my single experience.

As we started the application, the first question was whether or not I was an existing TD customer. I was not at the time, so she mentioned that it would be more convenient to have a chequing account with TD.

The first thought in my head was “uh oh, upsell… monthly fee alert.” So I asked “Why?”

She explained that the only way to get online access to buy/sell mutual funds was through a chequing account tied to a bank card, otherwise, I would have to come in to speak to a personal banker every time I wanted to invest or change funds. From there, the banker showed me their lowest cost bank account ($3.95/mo) which is waived with a minimum balance of $1,000. [edit: the readers have indicated that a TD chequing account is not required]

Even though I really didn’t want to open an additional chequing account (I already have 3) , I decided that in the name of convenience, it would be best to open one. To get around the monthly fee, I will maintain the minimum balance which works out to be the same as a 4.7% annual return.

After opening the new chequing account, we went onto opening a TD RESP Mutual Funds account. This required the standard info sin/address/birth date of parents and child. Along with this, a fairly standard (and quick) investor risk profile questionnaire was required. From there, a cash deposit is made with the option of choosing your funds then and there. Since I was going with the TD e-Series funds later, I decided to park my money in the TD Money Market Fund temporarily.

After the visit, I went online to print off and fill out the TD e-Series application form. Upon mailing the form, it took about 1 week (or less?) to gain access to buying/selling the e-Series funds. From there, I could simply login to my TD account and begin my RESP strategy.

A couple notes: TD didn’t notify me that the e-Series access was ready. I just found that the e-Series funds were available after checking online a week later. Also, since the mutual funds account is already setup, access to those funds remain. The e-Series funds are simply added to the available funds list.

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“She explained that the only way to get online access to buy/sell mutual funds was through a chequing account tied to a bank card, otherwise, I would have to come in to speak to a personal banker every time I wanted to invest or change funds.”

Are you sure that’s accurate? I don’t have any accounts with TD except for my TD E-Funds RESP for my son and it was never mentioned to me that I would need an actual account to link to. I use EasyWeb all the time to look at the account and move funds around. For deposits I have it linked to my regular CIBC account.

Like traciatim, my e-funds account is linked to my CIBC chequing account (no RESP for me though, obviously). I just asked the person at TD to send me a bank card linked to the e-funds account, which they did. I can log in online with its number and see my funds and my mortgage, and make transactions including buying more funds. Works seamlessly.

I will say that I like my experience of the interface and service so much that I’m thinking of switching chequing anyway.

It appears that I have been tricked! I agree with you guinness that their interface is pretty good.

Nicolas, I wondered the same thing as it states that there might be fees for switching out out of the money market fund. However, I have been told by other users of the td e-series that there are no fees involved.

I set up a regular RESP mutual fund account, and was steered into one of the higher MER funds. I’ll be doing this conversion soonest.

FT, if you redeem a normal TD mutual fund within 30 days of the purchase you pay a 2% fee. The 2% is only based on the value of funds purchased within the 30 day window, not the entire balance of the fund. The e-funds have a redemption fee within 90 days.

To mirror what others have said. I believe it was after I sent them in the forms to do the switch to the E-Funds they sent me a letter with a card and account number attached so thatI could log in to Easy Web even though no actual day to day banking account existed with TD.

cannon, I don’t think that there’s a problem with the whole CESG, but with the “bonus” CESG for those with under 76k in income. I should have read CC’s comments thread more thoroughly before signing up with TD. :)

So, if you are looking to get that 20% up to $500 per year, regardless of income, the TD RESP is not a problem?

FB,

If I’m TD, and I have a good thing going such as this low MER e-series funds, do I offer them to everyone OR do I make you sign up at TD in order to purchase them and then work on you to sell you more and more of anything?

If I do the former, then perhaps all that would happen is the mutual fund companies would respond by lowering to my level of MER and I’d lose my advantage. If I do the latter, I have a great chance to convert you into a higher value (i.e. more wallet share) client regardless of whether you buy more of my TD mutual funds for your RESP, RRSP, TFSA, non-registered account. Perhaps you get a credit card, banking account, mortgage.

You could have just opened a small personal line of credit with TD, and used that account to link to the TD eFunds account. Personal Line of Credit = no monthly fee, no minimum balance. And you only pay interest on what you borrow.

Mark, I asked the same banker about opening a personal line of credit to fund the mutual funds account, and he said that it would be leverage and that it’s not allowed. I’m thinking that I should look into working with another banker instead. :)

Hi,
I also opened a TD e-Series account and have nothing but praise for their low fees and easy online interface. When I opened my account I just went to my local branch and asked to open a regular mutual fund account and did not mention the e-Series. Getting all the paperwork done in branch is much easier and faster than mailing in for a new account. Just park your money in a no fee money market fund, go home and fill out the e-Series paperwork, put it in an envelope and bring it back to the same branch to put in inter-office mail. :-)

Hey all,
I went into TD today to open up an RRSP account w/ TD e-Funds. The person I talked to said I could only by e-Funds through TD Waterhouse. I’d prefer not to do that due to the extra fees. Based on what I’ve been reading on this blog, it doesn’t seem like that’s true – can someone confirm? I realise this blog post is about RESPs, not RRSPs, but I assume there isn’t a difference for the question I’m asking.
Thanks!

I opened TD mutual fund RESP account for my son in branch. My experience with personal banker was much better compare to RBC where I have my all other accounts. Few days later I requested for online access which I was immediately given and it works fine for additional purchase and transfer of fund. There was no other requirement like having chequing account etc. My Son is 16 year old so this is much better than other RESP Schemes

Xing: I opened my efunds RESP account on December 1st. The rep told me that the government contributions are added after each deposit, but then it was applied on January 2nd … so I don’t really know. Assuming the rep was correct, I’d say it takes about a month to deposit the CESG grant.

Having just had a son close to 1.5 months ago, I am buckling down and choosing my RESP provider for the next 20 or so years. My top 2 picks were TD and RBC. Although TD does indeed have lower MER’s with its E-Series funds, upon closer examination, RBC’s index funds for Canadian Equity and Canadian Bond have both consistently demonstrated higher returns over YTD, 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr, and earlier. This is hard to explain given these funds are all supposed to track the same indexes. Tracking error ?!?Having been a loyal RBC client since birth, in Quebec, I will stick to RBC for the RESP’s (although I must admit that RBC probably is the most expensive bank for consumers). As a sidenote, I will offer this information, the Quebec Incentive Education plan which is equal to half of the CESG, meaning 10% of member contributions will apply to both RBC and TD plans when it materializes. RBC gave me the assurance that the provincial grants would be retroactive to Jan 1, 2008 (must confirm) however growth-free. In case anyone wants to verify my info : Bond : TDB909 vs. RBF563
and Canadian Equity : TDB900 vs. RBF556. Comments…

1)what documents are needed to open td Resp….apart from the child’s Sin number..do they need birth certificates..

2)as discussed the problem with Td mutual fund resp is..we do not
get the additional CESG on the first $500 & we also do not get the CLB.
but i believe some branches work them out..open a regular RESP..contribute & then swicth to mutual fund…while the original contribution gets all the grants….does any one any such pleasant experiences..

Just a note to all you who have a problem with TD e-series when you go into a branch and speak to someone. It’s not that the PBs don’t know what you’re talking about, but it’s the point of the funds. The e-funds index funds are the exact same fund as their I-series namesake. The I-series has a higher MER, but you get PB support and advice for that higher MER, so the whole point of the e-series is you don’t want that support, so you don’t pay for it. My point is, it would defeat the purpose if they answered your questions regarding e-series. It’s better not to mention it, go in, create your account, download and mail in the conversion to e-funds and away you go.

I just went open up a td mutual fund RESP account yesterday. The rep told me that all 3 government grants(if I qualify) will go directly to the 5-yr GIC account which has 4% return, it sounded very good to me. When I asked if I could set up 2nd beneficiary so that in case if the primary kid is not going to school, I can transfer the RESP to another child, but they told me there is no such option unless I open up a family plan. Is it true?

How exactly does one “link” the TD e-series account to a non-TD bank account like a CIBC chequing account? Do you setup the TD account as a bill to be paid via online banking, or somehow do a money transfer? I enquired of a CIBC person and they said I would probably need to do an “email money transfer” via online banking, and that there is a charge for this transfer? How do others do it?

More than a year ago, I was searching for a self-directed RESP account, when I read this article and decided to follow it with opening a TD e-series account. At that time I was abroad, so I requested the mail-in form, and TD sent me the papers for opening a TD Waterhouse account. I didn’t proceed further, as I needed the TD Mutual Fund account.
Three days ago my wife and me have opened a TD Mutual Fund joint account, family RESP plan. The PB was very polite and didn’t show any concern that I wanted to switch it to an e-Series account. Because my wife is a TD customer, the account was enabled in EasyWeb in two days. For me (I am a BMO customer) the PB collected quite a few personal information, which I didn’t like. The PB also didn’t tell me about the limitations related to CSEG, etc. I am going to apply for conversion next week and I am going to request (with the same conversion form) TD to link the RESP account to my BMO account so that I can contribute too.
A note related to Jane’s posting – I was explained that TD offer three types of investment accounts – GIC, TD Mutual Funds and TD Watrerhouse ones.
It is not possible to open only Mutual Funds account and to invest in GIC, if you do not have a GIC account openened.

I opened a family plan a couple of years ago with TD, a GIC account and I received the basic CESG as well as the additional grant. Last year I opened individual RESP accounts for my two children so I can invest in mutual funds. A GIC had come up for renewal last week and the interest rate that was offered was paying only .75% versus the 4% we received so my wife and I decided we would transfer just our principal amount from the GIC that had matured and move it over to the individual mutual fund account. Well let me tell you we were shocked to find out that if we moved it we would have to repay all the grant money as well as pay a penalty because it would trigger a withdrawal. Is this true? TD is telling me that the money has to stay in this account and that I can’t even transfer it. This is a total scam on their part for putting such restrictions. Anyone have any advice as to what my options are? The e- series funds look good to me if I can move it as I trade my own mutual funds myself online.

The TD PB told me that there are restrictions when transferring an RESP account that qualified for the additional grant. I called someone from the CESG office and she told me that I can transfer the accounts as well as the grants to another RESP provider as long as they allow both grants to be invested in their plans. Not all providers allow the additional grant to be invested in their plans, according to this woman. This woman at the CESG office did tell me that there could be tax implications from Revenue Canada and she gave me a direct line to someone at Revenue Canada. This man from Revenue Canada told me that the woman should know all the rules and that I should call back to the CESG office and speak to a supervisor because they ( CESG office) should know the rules as they are the ones who administer the grant. So right now I am confused and frustrated, everyone passes the buck. I did find this clause on the government website but it is a little confusing to understand.

3.2.1. Conditions for an Eligible Transfer of the CESG

Both plans have a common beneficiary.
OR
A beneficiary of the receiving plan is under 21 years of age and is a sibling of a beneficiary in the transferring plan.
AND
The receiving plan is an individual (non-family) plan or a family plan in which all beneficiaries are siblings.
OR
No Additional CESG has been paid into the transferring plan.
AND
The receiving plan complies with all conditions applicable to registering Education Savings Plans (ESPs) since January 1, 1999, as required by the Income Tax Act (ITA).

Well, the issue seems to be that the Additional Grant is not offered in the TD Mutual Fund RESP. So anything that was received over and above the regular CESG would have to be repaid. I’m still not sure why TD won’t just do a transfer for you rather than withdraw all the funds and put them in to the new account.

It must come down to the way the rules work around transferring from the TD Canada Trust account which supports the Additional CESG and Canada Learning Bond, and the TD Mutual Fund account which only does the regular CESG and not the other two.

Maybe the best way to proceed is to put future contributions in to the TD Mutual Fund Account and keep rolling the GICs in the Canada Trust Account. You could stick with really short range GICs until rates increase some more.

Either that or maybe transfer to another institution that supports the CESG, Additional CESG, and CLB in a mutual fund account . . . I’m not even sure if any of those exist though.

I am in the opposite situation. My son is nearing graduation and I want to transfer the money market portion (~20% of the total account) of the RESP (family plan with 2 beneficiaries – siblings) TD mutual e-funds account into some RESP GICs with TD.

I am planning to create a GIC ladder and increase the GIC portion by transferring from the money market as my son gets close to graduation.
Will I have the same issue as mentioned above. I do not want the transfer to trigger withdrawal and to force me to repay the basic CESG. I have not received any Additional CESG in the RESP mutual funds account.

Anybody knows what is the fee involved in such a transfer and the steps to perform the move?

I just opened a TD RESP mutual fund account and during the application process there was an option asking where the CESG should go to when you receive it. Can the grant be used to purchase the e-series funds? I asked them to put it in the money market fund but I do recall reading that the grant can’t be used to purchase e-series funds? If so, where can it be parked? Also how long does it take for the grant to be deposited into the account?

@emunster @Traciatim: Probably ask them to transfer the money out of the additional grant ($500 per year iirc). Then you will have 2 RESP: one for the additional grant (where you deposit $500/yr) and another with mutual funds.
This strategy is described in the following blog:http://canadianinvestmentjourney.blogspot.com/2008/12/resp-on-td-e-series-mutual-fund.html
We did this since my wife is not working and she is the ‘main caregiver’ (she is getting the child benefit)

I just got back from a TD bank in River Heights- Winnipeg and it was a very frustrating experience. I walked out thinking that perhaps I really did not know what I was talking about! I informed the advisor I wished to open the TD e-series account. I informed him there was an online application and wanted to complete it in person so I could just get all the paperwork out of the way. He did not know what I was referring to! I asked him to show me the website and he informed me it looks different than the one I have at home (which it did). I could not find any reference to this application! He then proceeded to tell me I would have to open up a TD Waterhouse Brokerage Account. I told him I did not want to do this! (the account is $100.00/year). He then went on and printed me out information regarding this account. I just took the information and left!!

@Roxanne, we had to open a TD Mutual funds account in branch (free), then print off the paper work online and send it in. They take a little while, but you’ll see the e-series funds available in your account.

We’re in the same situation as you, trying to move money out of a TD Term RESP account and into efunds. I’ve sent the following off to both TD and HRDSC for clarification. If anyone here has any ideas, I’d love to hear them.

“Hello,

We have been using RESPs for 5 years now, starting with CIBC, and then transferring to TD. Initially we were content with investing in GIC’s, but now we would like to invest some of this differently, ideally using TD index mutual funds as we are now more tolerant of risk and the children are still young (5,3 and 1 yrs old).

However, when we inquired last summer at TD about transferring some money out, they threw up a big hurdle. TD’s message was that the money can’t be transferred out of the Term RESP account without having to give back all of the government contributions (CESG, additional CESG and CLB). We have over $10000 in laddered GIC’s, with 20% of the total account maturing this summer, next summer, etc for the next five years. We’d like to transfer some cash to an RESP mutual fund when the GICs mature.

Can you confirm that we will have to return the grant money to the government if we try to transfer cash out of a GIC account? If so, can you explain or direct me to the documentation that explains this rule?

Any ideas or suggestions on how we might move money out of this Term GIC account without losing any of the grants we’ve accumulated?

@ t bel,
I understand your frustrations, I have been given different answers from TD and Revenue Canada, none of their employees know the rules themselves. Different branches in TD have given me different answers, some say that I can transfer it and some tell me I can’t. If you can find a bank that will allow you to invest the additional grant then I would wait till your investments mature and make the transfer. The clause below from the Canada Education Savings Grant Website may have the answer to whether we can or can’t transfer the funds out to invest in mutual funds. Nobody can give me clarification on it so we gave up. When the time comes we will see if there are any other institutions that allow us to transfer the funds to mutual funds. We have our kids GIC RESP’s invested in a Market Growth GIC that mimicks the stock market and will pay up to 75% at maturity and the worst case we keep our principal amount. We are 2 years into a 5 year GIC and I found out from the bank that it is up 15% in the last 2 years, so it’s up 7.5% per year. I know they aren’t offering more than 50% payout after a 5 year term now. This is the only clause pertaining to our situation which I don’t fully understand and nobody can give me clarification on.

3.2.1. Conditions for an Eligible Transfer of the CESG

Both plans have a common beneficiary.
OR
A beneficiary of the receiving plan is under 21 years of age and is a sibling of a beneficiary in the transferring plan.
AND
The receiving plan is an individual (non-family) plan or a family plan in which all beneficiaries are siblings.
OR
No Additional CESG has been paid into the transferring plan.
AND
The receiving plan complies with all conditions applicable to registering Education Savings Plans (ESPs) since January 1, 1999, as required by the Income Tax Act (ITA).

How do yo link an account from another bank (National Bank) to your e-funds RESP so that you can buy e-series funds? I have recently closed all of my day-to-day TD accounts in favor of a much better package with lower fees and lower line of credit interest rates, but I do not want to give up my TD e-series RESP account.

This post is old but I thought I would post my experience. We made an appointment at our local TD branch to set up an RESP. I asked for the mutual funds account and then went through the risk spiel and questionnaire. Half way through I mentioned wanting to open the e-series in this account. They couldn’t do it in branch but she gave me a simple 2 page form to fill out and mail in that would transfer the resp to e-series. We already have an account at TD so there was no issue there. The whole process took about 90 mins.

The one odd thing was that they said that the Alberta grant ($500 at birth, $100 at 8, 11, 14th bdays) had to stay in a gic fund, no exceptions. Seems silly as over the long term it will lose money to inflation.

I need to know, how TD is calculating div / distribution for various funds. As an example for bond fund i am getting monthly, so if i need to move my fund i can easily move. However for few fund i am receiving yearly, and it’s 3 digit amount, so i don’t want to loose that. However, my question is in order to get that distribution / div i need keep the money in that index fund for full year, or i can just put it back in Oct – nov time frame.

Did anyone figure out how to add an additional beneficiary (2nd child) to an existing e-series family RESP? When I called TD easyline, they said adding someone was not possible and that I’d have to open another mutual fund account (then do the conversion to e-series) for the new baby. I know it’s possible to have multiple beneficiaries on one RESP as this is the whole point of setting up a family plan. Any help would be helpful. Thanks.

I have both my kids under a family plan with TD e-series mutual funds. They told me the same excuse as you that it couldn’t be done.

This is what I did,

I had individual plans for my kids with TD Mutual funds ( i-series) opened a family RESP account with TD Waterhouse discount brokerage ( I have all of my RRSP, TFSA accounts with TD Waterhouse), it’s best to make an appointment ( if you choose this route )with a TD Waterhouse branch and they will get the paperwork done for you.

I transferred both individual accounts to my new RESP account, once the transfer went through I sold the i-series mutual funds and purchased TD e-series mutual funds in the family plan.

The rep actually encouraged a family plan because there is a yearly admin fee of $50.00 I think if you have less than $25,000 in your account, no use in paying the fee for 2 accounts when you can have 1 account in the family plan. Both kids under one account, I manage the account myself over the internet, no mailing in forms.